March 6, 2014

APDesign students showcase at KC Auto Show

Allan Hastings, professor of interior architecture & product design at the College of Architecture, Planning & Design, will feature the accomplishments of the transportation design class at the upcoming Kansas City Auto Show.

Accompanied by some of his students, Hastings will display the renderings, designs and clay models that students have worked on during the fall 2013 semester. The display is located next to the K-State Power Cat Pullers booth and near the Maserati display. The show opened Wednesday and runs through Sunday. Don’t miss this opportunity to see the creations of the future from K-State APDesign.

“As a result of my class offering this last fall for transportation design, the class designed concept cars for their projects," Hastings said.

There were 13 graduate and undergraduate students in the class. For their final project, the class was assembled into four teams with each team designing a concept then making a quarter-scale model in clay of their concept along with presentation boards.

Hastings contacted Natalie Sullivan of the Kansas City Auto Show to see if they would be interested in providing space at this year's event for the students to show their work. As a result they were enthusiastic about the idea and provided the class with floor space next to the Power Cat Pullers display.

"I believe this will be a great opportunity for the students from interior architecture & product desing and APDesign as well as the university community,” Hasting said.

Students from the class will be available to talk with attendees and also be demonstrating clay modeling of an automobile.

"This is exciting stuff," says Tim de Noble, dean of APDesign, "The work of the students, informed by Professor Hastings' years of involvement in the auto industry, shows their ability to address incredibly diverse design issues. For me it shows our approach to design-thinking, in this case focused on cars, is boundless and well-applied to the full array of issues facing — and products serving — our society."